I gaped at him. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“We came to rescue you.” He grinned at me as if we were alone at a candlelit dinner, his fangs gleaming like ivory daggers.
“You do realize you’re in a vampire hunter school, right?”
“He’s a vampire!” The eleventh-grade floor monitor flung a stake at Quinn. Quinn snarled, leaning to the right until his torso was practically parallel to the floor. The stake thudded into the wall.
“Stand down!” I yelled as Kieran stepped in front of Quinn. “He’s a Drake! And an ally.”
There was a startled pause, then grumbling and frantic whispers.
“You know him?” Jason stared at me as if I’d just grown an extra head.
“Kieran, you’re fraternizing with the enemy now?” Sophie snapped.
“He’s a vampire,” Simon muttered. He was in eleventh grade now and already covered in scars. And he was built like a big blond Viking. “What are we waiting for?”
“He’s a Drake,” I repeated. “And Hart’s signed a treaty with them so stand the hell down or I will put you down.”
“It’s not right, is all I’m saying. In case you two haven’t noticed, we kill vampires. Kind of under attack right now.”
Kieran snorted. “I’m not going to let you kill my girlfriend’s brother, so get over it.”
“You really are dating a vampire?” Sophie goggled at him. “Dude.”
I stood very pointedly next to Kieran, blocking Quinn. He was close enough that I could feel the coolness of his body, the noticeable absence of his breath on the back of my neck. It should have creeped me out. I was kind of surprised that it didn’t.
“Look, could we debate the bigotry of this organization at some other time?” I bit out. “Quinn’s not our problem right now. As Simon pointed out, the Hel-Blar are.” I lifted my chin, glaring down at everyone. “And Kieran outranks us all, so shut up and follow orders or I’m handing out demerits.”
“Can you do that now?” Kieran whispered at me.
“I have no idea,” I hissed back.
“Okay, listen up, people,” Kieran raised his voice so that it was all gravelly and impressive. I wasn’t particularly impressed since we’d grown up together and I’d force-fed him mud pies when we were little, but it seemed to work on everyone else. Lia actually sighed.
Only a thirteen-year-old vampire hunter would get a crush in the middle of a vampire attack.
I was a little bit proud of her actually.
“The tunnel exit is no good,” Kieran continued. “We had to barricade it behind us and set fires to keep the Hel-Blar from using it. Someone’s tipped them off about it. That’s not our concern right now. Our only goal is to take as many out as possible and stay alive in the process. Don’t be a hero or I’ll have Hunter take you down. That said, the lights should keep the worst of them away. In the meantime, I want everyone bunkered in the tenth-grade common room. It’s the easiest one to defend and the windows are barred.” That had less to do with protection and more to do with a prank Kieran and his friends had apparently pulled in tenth grade.
“What are you waiting for?” Kieran shouted as the Hel-Blar came down the stairs. “Go! Monitors on perimeter,” he added, though they were well trained enough to do it anyway. I stayed where I was.
“Hunter, go,” Kieran said, drawing a stake.
“Give me a break.” I took out my own stake and stepped aside just enough to keep Quinn out of my way and vice versa. “Your arm’s busted. You need me.”
Kieran didn’t have the time to argue with me. He couldn’t have changed my mind anyway. He was the closest thing to a brother I had and I wasn’t about to leave him behind. Not when the other students were plenty well protected now. And while I trusted that Quinn was a good fighter, he was dangerously cocky too.
Three Hel-Blar came from the top floor and another two from our right. Quinn laughed before throwing himself at them. He actually laughed.
“Is he insane?” I asked, flinging a stake at one of the Hel-Blar on the right.
“Pretty much. Duck!”
I ducked. Kieran’s stake whizzed over my head and pinned the second vampire to the wall. Another stake finished him off. I held my breath until the ash settled. Breathing in dead vampire dust is just as gross as it sounds.
We’d dispatched them all when Quinn turned back to us, grinning. “That was fun.”
“You’re—” I cut myself off as the shadow of a smaller, more cunningly hidden Hel-Blar dropped from the ceiling ledge. She landed behind Quinn, every fang exposed. “Quinn, down!”
Quinn dropped into a crouch, revealing a stake in each hand. Before he could spin and jab up with his weapons, I threw a pepper egg. He blinked at it with the kind of astonishment that would have been funny in any other circumstance. The black-painted egg-shaped container was thin and made to break on impact. When it struck the last Hel-Blar in the face, it splashed a combination of ground glass, cayenne pepper, and Hypnos into her face. She recoiled, screeching and clawing at her red, watering eyes. One of Quinn’s stakes pierced her heart and finished the job.
We joined Kieran on the next landing and stood there for a long moment. The only sound was Kieran and I panting. The house was quiet.
“I think that was the last of them,” Kieran said finally. “I’ll go up and do a sweep. You guys watch the front and back doors.”